Shape up, nursing schools told

THE Commission on Higher Education yesterday warned 152 of the 456 nursing schools in the country to improve their students’ passing rates or face closure as more than 95,000 nursing graduates prepared for their licensing exams this weekend.

“Shape up or be phased out,” commission chairman Emmanuel Angeles said.

She said the 152 schools had failed to improve their students’ passing rates in the past five years, and because of it had also failed to meet the Professional Regulatory Commission’s standards.

“This is a wake-up call for our nursing schools to shape up or be phased out,” she said.

“[The commission] will not hesitate to enforce its regulations if they will still fail to heed our call.”

Angeles said the nursing schools in trouble had been performing below the national passing rate of 46.14 percent, adding the commission last month closed down six law schools for equally failing to meet standards.

“For this school year, higher education institutions whose performance in licensure examinations in the last three consecutive years is greater than 50 percent, but lower than the national passing rate, shall be given an initial warning to improve their performance,” the commission said in a recent resolution.

“Those whose passing percentage is zero percent in the last three years will definitely be phased out.”

The Top 20 nursing schools in the country are Silliman University (with an average of 96.57 percent), Saint Louis University, 95.42; Trinity University of Asia, 95.06; University of Santo Tomas, 95.06; Cebu Doctors’ University, 91.89; Saint Paul University, 89.79; Central Philippine University, 86.72; De La Salle University-Health Sciences campus, 85.26; Saint Mary’s University, 84.10; San Pedro College, 83.10; Manila Doctors College, 82.56; Centro Escolar University-Manila, 81.50; Angeles University Foundation, 76.37; Mariano Marcos University, 75.55; University of San Agustin, 73.25; University of Cebu, 70.99; Metropolitan Hospital College of Nursing, 70.54; Ateneo de Davao University, 70.20; San Juan De Dios Education Foundation, 69. 91; and University of Saint La Salle, 67.55. –Manila Standard Today